Creating a classroom culture that is respectful and self monitoring
By:  Sarah Jackson

Project at a Glance :

This project is intended for a fourth grade class during the first few weeks of school. The class will collaborate around the idea of an ideal classroom culture and how they can help create a self monitoring system for their classroom behavior. ​
 
Driving Question:

How can we create an inclusive classroom environment that holds us accountable?         

Standards:

• Students will engage in and work to the mastery of the employability skills of Participation and Good Choices. They will do this through their collaboration and presentation. 
• SL.4.1  Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• SL.4.1.B  Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions and carry out assigned roles.
• SL.4.1.C  Pose and respond to specific questions to clarify or follow up on information, and make comments that contribute to the discussion and link to the remarks of others.
• SL.4.1.D  Review the key ideas expressed and explain their own ideas and understanding in light of the discussion.
• 4 – C5.0.1 Explain responsibilities of citizenship
• P4.2 Citizen Involvement: Act constructively to further the public good. 
• 4 – P4.2.1 Develop and implement an action plan and know how, when, and where to address or inform others about a public issue. 
• 4 – P4.2.2 Participate in projects to help or inform others.

Team / Culture Building:

• Students will complete the Inner Heroes protocol and then create trading cards representing them and their inner hero description. They will also complete the Creative Sequence DNA protocol so that students can be placed into groups effectively.

​Entry Event:

• Getting to know you activities and interviews with each other.
• Hopes and Fears of the best classroom
• Classroom scavenger hunt “First Day” Writing:
• First Day Cards activity
• First Day writing activity

Stakeholders:

• Students
• Teacher
• Interventionists
• Enrichment teachers
• Long-term substitute teachers
• Parent volunteers
• Principals
• Former students
• Administration
• School Board Members ​​

Empathy Building:

• Empathy maps
• Pain/Gain map 
• Stakeholder maps 
• Artifact analysis of other classrooms

Inquiry / Need to Knows:

•  Read books about kindness, respect and being inclusive in our communities.
• Wrinkled Heart activity with book  Chrysanthemum.
• Create a list of what we would like our classroom to look and feel like
• Discuss how to best signal to each other when something is happening that goes against our classroom rules
• Interview other students and stakeholders.
• Create Mood Boards about how students want to feel in the classroom.​

• Love letter with the best classroom community.
• Speedboat protocol (what is holding us back from having the best classroom possible?)
• Create a Top 10 list following interviews.

Incubation:

•  Remind students that no idea is a bad idea.
• Create a classroom culture where students feel comfortable sharing (reinforced by this project).
• Create a mistake board where we can share our mistakes and realize that it is ok to “try hard things”
• Idea Quota​​​

• Sort ideas 
• Combination of ideas 
• Mind Mapping ​

Checking in:

• Using “I Think, I wonder, What if”, groups will share ideas with other groups.
• Feedback forms for stakeholders.
• Invite authentic audience and stakeholders present for feedback.

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Solution Building:

• Students will use the Dot Voting protocol after the Gallery Walk and Elevator pitches.
• NUF test may also be helpful to decide which ideas would make the best solutions.
• Discuss feedback from each other and  stakeholders and review  data from NUF test and dot voting to decide on a possible solution. 

Critique and Revision: 

• Combining ideas based on dot voting and feedback.
• Students could do “I like, I wonder, What if?” protocol with each other.
• Fishbowl presentations to hear all ideas
• Ask stakeholders to come in as well and give feedback on ideas before choosing final solution.

Authentic Audience: 

• Students
• Teacher
• Interventionists
• Long-term substitute teachers
• Principals
• Former students
• Administration

Final Presentation:

• Students combined poster presentations with a skit.
• The students mimicked positive and negative behaviors and demonstrated how to check each other with the “quiet quack”.
• Students will be surveyed on how they best learn; reading, writing, listening, acting, etc and then be able to capitalize on those strengths when it comes to presenting.

Click here for teacher's full plan.

​Reflection and Feedback:

• ​ The audience will complete the  rubric  to give feedback on presentations.
  
• Use emoji stickers to display on different parts of the project that were the favorite. 
  
• Students will also reflect using a similar rubric to the presentation rubric where they can assess their learning. 
  
• Read feedback from the audience members to make sure we have met our goals and created a product that will be effective all year.

Click here for the teacher's Journey through PBL on Padlet . . .

Meet the Educator:

Sarah Jackson teaches 4th grade at Griffin Elementary, Grand Haven Area Public Schools.

​     "PBL and Design Thinking are such cool ways for kids to collaborate and express themselves.  They are given tools to use even past their academic careers.  It is so fun to watch the different ways the students think when they are given the opportunity to work on their own and collaborate with their peers."